Contents

Basic Grade

The basic personal pronouns of Gaelic are used in neutral contexts (without emphasis) to indicate pronouns such as I, you, he, she, we, they. There is no distinction between nominative and accusative pronouns. (i.e. there is no difference between I and me, he and 'him, she and her, we and us and they and them in Gaelic.

person

Singular

Plural

1st

mi

sinn

2nd

thu/tu

sibh

3rd masc

e

iad

3rd fem

i

Notes:

There are two forms for the 2nd person singular form (thu and 'tu), tu is used after verbs in the relative future tense and conditional mood.

The sibh is used both for plural you and as a polite form of the singular

There is no neuter pronoun (it) in Gaelic. Instead either e or i is used depending upon the gender of the noun being used.

In the plural there is no gender distinction, one form (iad) is used for both genders.

Emphatic Grade

There is a special form of the pronoun used in Gaelic to indicate special emphasis on the pronoun. There is no equivalent in English except stress. For example, if we wanted to say he saw ME, the Gaelic would use the special form mise: Chunnaic e mise. The emphatic forms are also obligatory when used with identificational uses of copula (e.g. I am John = Is mise Iain).

person

Singular

Plural

1st

mise

sinne

2nd

thusa/tusa

sibhse

3rd masc

esan

iadsan

3rd fem

ise

Notes:

There are two forms for the 2nd person singular form (thusa and 'tusa), tusa is used after verbs in the relative future tense and conditional mood.

The sibhse is used both for plural you and as a polite form of the singular

There is no neuter pronoun (it) in Gaelic. Instead either esan or ise is used depending upon the gender of the noun being used.

In the plural there is no gender distinction, one form (iadsan) is used for both genders.

Note that sometimes reflexive forms (see below) are also used to mark emphasis.

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns (in English forms like myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves) are used obligatorily when referring back to another noun that has been named in the same clause, e.g., John loves himself (himself refers back to John). In other words they are used as anaphors.

In Gaelic, unlike English (but used this way in Irish English and Hebredean English), reflexive pronouns can also be used as Emphasis. In such uses, they are not anaphoric (i.e. they don't refer back to a previous noun). For example, they can be used in subject position: Tha è fhèin a' tighinn (Literally "himself is coming", but colloquially HE is coming.)

In Gaelic the reflexive is formed by attaching fhèin (sometimes fhìn in the first person) to either basic grade or emphatic grade pronouns. This is usually written as a separate word.

person

Singular

Plural

1st

mi fhìn or mi fhèin

sinn fhèin

2nd

thu fhèin

sibh fhèin

3rd masc

e fhèin

iad fhèin

3rd fem

i fhèin

Note:

The choice of fhìn or fhèin with the 1st person singular is a matter of dialect. In Skye the form fhìn is more frequently used than fhèin

†Note the chugam, chugad etc. forms are rarely used anymore, nor is the definite form thun

Inflected Prepositions with possessive pronouns

The 1st person singular, 2nd person singular and 3rd person singular masculine forms here trigger lenition (indicated with a superscript L). 1st and 2nd person plurals trigger the prefixation of n- onto words beginning with vowels (nasalization), This is indicated with a superscript N. the pronunciation of the a consonant following these and the 3rd person plural is also frequently voiced or nasalized. Finally the 3rd person feminine forms prefix an <h> onto words beginning with a vowel. This is indicated with H. The superscript N, H, and L are not usually written out in the orthography of Gaelic and are presented here merely to remind you what Initial Consonant Mutation is being triggered.

Note: of the following only the possessive inflected forms of aig, ann, do and ri are in regular use. All the others quite rare or considered prescriptively inferior.

singular

plural

1

2

3 masc

3 fem

1

2

3

aig

'gamL

'gadL

'gaL

'gaH

'garN

'gurN

'gan

ann

'namL

'nadL

'naL

'naH

'narN

'nurN

'nan

bho

bhomL

bhodL

bho aL

bho aH

bhorN

bhuN

bhon

de (dhe)

dhemL

dhedL

dhe aL

dhe aH

dhe arN

dhe urN

dhen

do

domL/dhamL

dodL/dhadL

dhaL

dhaH

dor/dharN

dhurN

don/dhan

fo

fomL

fodL

fo aL

fo aH

forN

furN

fon

gu

gumL

gudL

gu aL

gu aH

garN

gurN

gun

le

lemL

led'L

le aL

le aH

lerN

lurN

len

mu

'mumL

'mudL

mu aL

mu aH

marN

murN

man

o

omL

odL

o aL

o aH

orN

urN

on

ri

rimL

ridL

ri aL

ri aH

ri arN

ri urN

rin

ro (roimh)

romL

rodL

ro aL

ro aH

rorN

rurN

ron

tro (troimh)

tromL

trodL

tro aL

tro aH

trorN

trurN

tron

Note that the /n/ ending on the 3rd person plural will change to an <m> when the word precedes word beginning with <m, b, f, p>.

Any preposition not in the list above simply combines the normal preposition with the normal possessive pronoun (e.g. "air mo")